1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a gaming machine in which setting of the bet amount is performed.
2. Description of Related Art
In slot machines, including both mechanical slot machines and video slot machines, representing one example of conventional gaming machines, a plurality of reels have been employed as a means of showing a game result. In such slot machines, the reels are displayed while being rotated and symbols arranged at the periphery of these reels are variably displayed. Then, the variable display of the reels is stopped so as to display the symbols which have been determined by internal lottery. A plurality of areas where the symbols will be displayed are set in advance and a winning combination is determined in accordance with a symbol combination displayed on these areas. As a result of this determination, if it was determined that a winning combination has been realized, a payout is awarded in accordance with the winning combination thus realized and the bet amount that was bet on these areas.
In this respect, in a slot machine such as described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,638,169, which is installed in great number in casinos and the like, a player indicates, at the start of a game, the area(s) with respect to which the winning combination determination will be made, from a plurality of areas thus provided. The player also indicates the bet amount for each area. Thus, a number obtained by adding up the bet amount corresponding only to the number of indicated areas is set as a total of the bet amount which the player bet in 1 game.
In such a slot machine, when designating the areas, area number setting buttons such as “1”, “5”, “25” and the like are used for setting the number of areas which the player wishes to indicate as areas with respect to which the winning combination determination will be made. These area number setting buttons are provided on an operation panel of the slot machine. For instance, if the player depresses the area number setting button “5”, 5 areas are set as areas with respect to which the winning combination determination will be made. Further, bet number setting buttons such as “1”, “3”, “8” and the like are used for setting the bet amount for an area which the player wishes to indicate. As is a case with the area number setting buttons, the bet amount setting buttons are also provided on the operation panel of the slot machine. Here, if the player depresses the bet amount setting button “8”, 8 bets are bet with respect to an area. In this case, 8 bets have been bet with respect to each one of 5 areas, meaning that the bet amount corresponding to “40” is set as a total of the bet amount. With this settings established, the game can start.
However, in such a slot machine, the player could not indicate the total of the bet amount with respect to a unit game which is executed continuously. Also, the player could not indicate the continuous unit game number of times for which the bet amount is set in a lump.